Opel Rejects the Idea of Second Vote for Bochum Workers on Restructuring Deal

Opel will not offer its Bochum plant workers another vote on its proposed restructuring agreement.

Bob King, the head of UAW union, has suggested in a recent interview that Bochum plant workers should vote again on the restructuring plan and accept it if they want to keep some of the jobs for a little longer. In March the Bochum plant employees have rejected the restructuring agreement which would have kept the plant open until 2016 and kept 1,200 jobs from the total of 3,000.

“With every new discussion and any delay, we’re only wasting precious time,” Bochum plant manager Manfred Gellrich wrote in a letter to staff published on Thursday.

The IG Metall labor union said that the number of members seeking a repeat vote on the deal has reached a considerable number and that if it keeps growing, regional union director Knut Giesler will check if such a re-vote is possible. GM CEO Dan Akerson declined to comment on this issue.

“I would really hate to see that plant closed when so much effort was put in by IG Metall and the works council to save it,” King said on Tuesday. “I’m hoping if I talk about how that’s one of the things that happened in the U.S., that maybe the (Bochum) workers will do that. I don’t know if that’s possible, but at least that would open up a door of opportunity for people to talk.”